Not until you're 18!!!!!!

This subject came up again just yesterday. I rarely use these type of arguments with my children, law aside of course; actually this time my children weren't the debate. When I returned to school I ended up in a class with students from the local high schools. Quite a few of the kids in class know my teens, they still all go to the same school. My eldest has been taking her A.P. classes during her Jr. and Sr. years at the H.S. rather than travel to the college and take the courses here. I don't think any of the students are under 17, and some must be 18, but they are technically high school students, and I believe they all still live at home. Seems like maybe possibly some parental figures aren't as impressed with the teacher I felt so lucky to have after being out of school for over 20 years. I'm hopeful my eldest will have him for a class when she joins next year. We didn't actually say as much but my impression was that the parents weren't very impressed with the manner the class was taught. I'd like to say I was shocked but I was only a little surprised, and a little more ticked off than anything. Parents need to realize that 18, or after graduation, is not some magical time in which something clicks in your child and suddenly they're an adult and programmed to be ready to accept being treated as such. Around age 16 they need to be eased into this adult world some of you seem to want to just thrust them into after they graduate. They need part time jobs, a license and use of a vehicle, and maybe a college course or two. You'd better let them know what they're in for now. If at 18 you send them off to college or they decide to get out of the house completely they'd better know a thing or two about a thing or two, or they're going to get eaten alive out there. The more time spent out in the real world before they have no choice but to be out there is one big school in itself. It's your duty to prepare them to go. Let them go. How dare you expect them to be ready for something next year that you think they can't possibly handle this year. Shame on you.

from a post i made in response to a member on the mommy boards

i have an awful wtf way tmi rat story, i'll warn you before i get to the bad part

we had 3 rats in the walls trying to come in, well we know know it was at least 3 because everything stopped after that...

first you hear them, it's unmistakable: nibbling, gnawing, scratching... all you know is something is coming in

then one morning there was no hope, IT'S definitely in



i know now this is no cute little mouse



this is a HUGE rat



my brain subconsciously recalls every fact i've read about rats:

plague and rabies not a chance, i KNOW this but i've read too many horror books

fleas, maggots, bot flies, lice: check, check, check, check



the kids suggest this sticky tape non toxic whatever stuff first, i can relate, we try it

the size of the foot print found in the glue on the paper, some of which was still stuck to us, had us running for rat traps, we all slept in my bed after that

peanut butter was smeared, traps worthy of squirrels were set, we barely sleep straining to listen all night

SNAP! the noises that follow are hard to describe, no not the bad part yet, okay i'll just say it's the sound of a rat caught in a trap and running rampant through the house, but our fear of the unknown yet hearing all going on out there selves in the other room over imagining some monstrous devil thing coming to get us it was a nightmare to say the least, we found part of the trap the next morning

so now after all these sleepless scary nights since the very first scratch, we've totally had it, we admit defeat and really don't care how or where the little bastards die, but they're going or we are

we get the poison, we nearly spread it out with glee, we sleep, wake, feed 'em more for another night or few... it's been strangely quiet, not nearly as much activity at night

we find the first under the stove, it reminds me of a baby river rat it's so big, i'm shocked at the size

the second comes crawling out from somewhere and tries to follow the wall toward the food, it can barely move, we're playing scrabble and pretending not to see this monstrosity dying before our eyes, we're glued to our spots, we know what happens, we've seen all the movies, the second we think it's dead and go to it it comes back to life and bites us MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

this goes on for quite some time, play has been suspended since first sighting, one of the kids throws a sock across the room at it, it doesn't move, we swear we can see it breathing, it's our heartbeats pounding and pulsating moving us making us believe it's the rat, middle beej can't stand it anymore and grabs an old towel and approaches ever so cautiously, she nears and almost on cue myself and my eldest scream and achieve our goal of nearly making her piss herself, i love these kids... she pokes it with a shoe, the rat so stiff she had to laugh at us and herself, it's more than dead

the third rat, WARNING, sort of sick

the next morning i was getting dressed for work and my closet wouldn't quite shut, they're on rolling tracks above and i have issues with them anyway, i slammed that door with all i had 5 or 6 times i was so frustrated and pissy for some reason, i finally left it and went to work

i came home and went to sit at my desk next to my closet, specifically next to the door that wouldn't slide shut... i pulled out my chair and saw in the light what i couldn't see in the dark that morning, i was slamming the door into the rat so hard into the wall i'd busted his chest cavity completely, he was hard as a rock with the perfect imprint of the door indented into his body